Cancer Scientist Wins
Women's Research Award

Life Sciences Division postdoctoral research fellow Kumari Andarawewa is one of two recipients of the Women in Cancer Research Brigid G. Leventhal Scholar Award. Candidates must be first authors of meritorious papers selected for presentation at the American Association of Cancer Research annual meeting. Kumari Andarawewa works in the laboratory of Mary Helen Barcellos-Hoff. The award is based on her Ph.D. research at France’s Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire on proteases and cancer cell cross talk. Brigid Grey Leventhal, the award's namesake, was a pioneer among women in cancer research.

New Deadlines in UC 457(b)
Deferred Compensation Plan

In February, new deadlines take effect for enrolling in the UC 457(b) Plan and for changing 457(b) deferral amounts. Enrollments and changes must be completed before the end of the last business day of any given month to take effect with the next month’s earnings. For example, an enrollment or deferral amount change completed before the end of the last business day in February (Monday, Feb. 28) will be effective for pay periods ending in March (the April 1 payday for monthly paid employees, the March 18 payday for bi-weekly paid employees). These enrollment and deferral change deadlines comply with IRC regulations applicable to 457(b) plans. A comparison between the 403(b) and 457(b) pre-tax retirement savings plans can be found on the Berkeley Lab Benefits Website.

Reminder: Ethanol
Fueling Station Down

Due to required maintenance of the ethanol fueling system located at Building 76, ethanol fuel (E85) will not be available for dispensing through February. If a division has a "flex-fuel" vehicle, its assigned fuel card will work for unleaded fuel dispensing at the pump. People that experience difficulty fueling their vehicle should visit the Fleet Office for assistance. For further information, contact Don Prestella at x4224 or [email protected], or Fleet Operations at x5475. Notification will be sent out once maintenance has been completed.

New Cyberinfrastructure
News Website Launched

Simon
Strohmaier

Horst Simon, director of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Berkeley Lab, and Erich Strohmaier of the Computational Research Division, are co-authors of the lead article in a new online venue, Cyberinfrastructure Technology Watch, which is designed to engage the science and engineering research community in the news, ideas, and information surrounding the emergence of cyberinfrastructure as the essential foundation for advanced scientific inquiry. The site was launched last week by the Cyberinfrastructure Partnership, a joint NSF-funded effort of the San Diego Supercomputer Center and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. A companion blog is slated for March.

Sir Francis Drake High students visit EETD’s Windows Test Facility

Drake High School
Students Visit Lab

In On Feb. 10, 21 students from Sir Francis Drake High School in San Rafael visited the Environmental Energy Technologies Division. The students (mostly juniors) are part of the SEA-DISC (Special Environmental Academy-Drake Integrated Studies Curricula) program. They visited EETD’s Advanced Windows Test Facility and took part in a hands-on demonstration of the Home Energy Saver with Berkeley Lab’s Rollie Otto of the Center for Science and Engineering Education.